Commercial printers and plotters, as on-the-shelf products, exist in the home and office markets, and are designed to print on paper and transparencies. These products are equipped with popular printing heads, like ink-jets and laser.
Office printers are relatively inexpensive and are dedicated for fast quality printing on sheets of fixed width.
Advertising agencies, graphic designers, artists and engineering offices have, at most, one plotter in their office designated for paper only, and the cost of the equipment is determined by the maximum width of the plotter, and for the bigger dimensions are expensive.
Printing on special material, such as non-standard paper that is thicker than usual, not in standard rolls, carton, or glass, forces the use of dedicated service bureaus, which have such machines for special printing. Machines intended for such purposes are very expensive and not with in reach of smaller offices, and turning to external service bureaus is also expensive and causes delays, as the cycle is longer.
Printing on special materials forces an examination of the outcome of the printing job, as the colors and quality of the print are unpredictable, and usually require at least one reprinting.
Present invention intends to provide a better solution to all the problems describe above.
This invention refers to an apparatus comprising a support assembly capable of moving in accurate steps on flat horizontal surfaces, like a table, and which carries with it a surface treating instrument or mechanism such as printer, scanner, cutter, engraver, etc, which treats the surface as desired.
The movement of the support assembly is based on performing accurate steps. The accuracy of the system derives from the accuracy of the intermediate stages of each step, and from the fact that the support assembly actually is continuously in positive contact with the surface. This provides the required basis for accurate surface treating tools.
The support assembly, equipped as mentioned above, will be used for applying various treatments of flat surfaces, such as printing, to desired surfaces such as a large sheet of paper or other flat materials. The term xe2x80x9ctreatmentxe2x80x9d used herein signifies at least one of the following scanning, printing, patterning (e.g. engraving) and cutting. The surface to be treated may be paper, metal, linen, or any other flat material.
The advantage of this invention is that the support assembly can move above the treated material in unbound motion, instead of the material having to pass through it, which is common feature of present other machines. In the other machines the size, thickness and sometimes the flexibility limit the material. This machine is able also to treat all rigid materials, of any size and of any thickness, in any direction and any length. Such needs are encountered in the printing industry, for example.
The material that is, as an example, to be printed, is to be laid on the table or flat surface, with the support assembly, holding a printing tool, positioned over it. The support assembly receives step command from a control system, performs it, becomes stationary for a specified period in which the tool prints on a section of the material, and then the support assembly moves another step, and so on.
The support assembly is an integration of two sub-units, whose relative positions are fixedxe2x80x94in the stationary position, and floatingxe2x80x94when in the state of movement. A single step of the support assembly is a combination of the full step of each unit relative to the other. A full step of the support assembly is composed of the following sequence: both units are stationary on the surface, one unit rises over the other, takes a full step forward, and then lowers itself back to the surface. After this, the second unit rises over the first, takes the same full step forward, and lowers itself back to the surface, where the support assembly is again in the stationary position. The (single line) printing action is then performed, after both units of the support assembly have finished their movements.